Favourite things
by Siriusly-mckinnon
Summary: Sirius and Marlene enjoy the sunshine


The first odd thing about the day was the temperature. It was hot, much hotter than Sirius had ever felt in Scotland. He was no meteorologist but he'd wager it was over 20 degrees. That wasn't amazing weather by usual standards but for Scotland in June it was almost unheard of.

The second oddity of the day was the lack of apprehension Sirius was feeling. Coming up to the summer holidays he was usually tense and fearful at the prospect of returning to Grimmauld Place. This year however he would be going to the Potter's before returning for his final year at Hogwarts. Life was good and for the first time since he could remember he was actually looking forward to the summer.

Sirius would never consider himself particularly responsible but in his excitement he had finished packing before even Remus had started. This left him with free time as the only exam he had left to prepare for was Charms and he was extremely confident in his abilities for it. Annoying his three friends as they packed and studied lost its appeal after Peter had chucked one too many of his socks at him and Remus had told him in a scolding voice 'If you must annoy somebody Sirius can you please make it someone else'.

That was how Sirius found himself wandering the grounds of Hogwarts. There was a distinct lack of students around, most inside studying for exams, but there were a few dotted around enjoying the sunshine. Spotting a familiar halo of blonde and a set of discarded blue robes he made his way over to one of the many large trees providing shade and plonked himself down next to the girl laying under it.

She cracked one eye open at his arrival and seeing it was Sirius shut her eye, her face going serene again. If he had to choose a part of Marlene that was his favourite it would be her eyes. He supposed as a bloke he should have said something like her generous chest or her lovely shapely behind and while she did have these attributes so did half the girls at Hogwarts. No other girl at Hogwarts had eyes the exact shade of startling blue that Marlene had. No other girl had eyes that were quite as wide and lovely as Marlene's. He hadn't seen any girl that could convey anger with just a glint in those bright blue eyes like Marlene could or any girl who could get her way just using those eyes and a pouting lip.

He studied her face as he mused, his eyes tracking a path from her lovely thick eyelashes to her slightly upturned nose dotted in freckles. He carried on over her thin top lip and her plump bottom one, down to her chin with the little cleft that was so slight you could miss it if you didn't know to look. She was a good looking bird, he had to at least give her that.

'Are you going to keep staring at me or are you going to lie down and enjoy the sun' she stage whispered, startling him out of his own thoughts.

'Can't help it when I've got something so lovely to look at Mckinnon' he replied grinning.

She opened her eyes to glare at him but he could see the amusement within the vibrant sea of blue. She sighed heavily and sat up to join him, bringing her knees up and wrapping her arms around them. Leaning her head on her knees she glanced sideways at him.

'Why are you not with your troublemakers?' she said in her lovely Irish lilt.

'They kicked me out. Apparently I was annoying them but honestly don't know where they got that idea. Me? The one person who's never done anything wrong in his life ever?'

Sirius's second favourite thing about Marlene was her laugh. There was absolutely nothing ladylike about her peals of laughter. If anything it was more a wheeze than a laugh with a few gasping noises thrown in. His absolute favourite part was when she snorted. Her nose would scrunch up and she'd look horrified but unable to stop laughing. Then it would happen again and again until she just accepted it. It made him smile that in the six years he'd known her she still looked surprised when she snorted as if it wasn't a regular occurrence, a part of her.

'A regular angel you are alright, Black' she huffed through her laughter. Her laughter died down and her face grew more serious. 'Mia told me you're living with them now, that obviously means you'll be there for summer yeah?' She asked.

It took him a minute to realise Mia was Euphemia, James's mum and although he knew the McKinnon's and the Potter's were friends he hadn't realised they were that familiar with each other. 'You call her Mia?' He questioned.

She tilted her head at him. 'Well yes, Aunt Mia actually but Mum calls her Mia so why wouldn't I?' She said speaking as if it should be obvious.

'Just hadn't realised you knew them that well love, obviously you know James but I didn't know you know his parents too.' Sirius said. Now that he thought about it though he had heard James's mum asking about 'Little Marley' he just hadn't made the connection between the two.

'Anyway yeah I'll be there for the summer, you going to miss me Mckinnon?' he said as he ruffled her hair.

She smacked his hand away. 'Gerrof you git' she laughed. She settled back down closer to him so she could lean back on his chest. They'd always had this easy intimacy. Even in the beginning when they'd claimed to hate each other they were still easy about touching one another. It was odd for Sirius. Marlene, despite all her hard edges, was a soft girl and coming from a house where touch was cruel and painful Sirius didn't always know how to react to something so gentle. He was better at it now, slinging an arm around her shoulder so she could burrow in more comfortably.

She turned her head to look at him but her angle meant she could only see the beginnings of stubble on his defined jaw. 'Sirius how am I going to miss you when you're going to spend the entire summer annoying me'.

He jerked his head back at that so he could see her properly. 'You'll be in Ireland no? That's where you live McKinnon. You're not staying in James's too are you?' He was sure if she was someone would have at least mentioned it to him.

She smiled which brought Sirius to his third favourite thing about Marlene, her smile. Although he supposed he could argue that tied in with her laugh but she had so many smiles he felt it right to make a whole other category for them. There were full on grins for when she found something particularly amusing. A sympathetic smile when she was listening to someone's problems. A cruel smirk when she was arguing with someone and she knew she was right. (She'd used that smile on him more times than he'd care to admit) His personal favourite was the soft smile she seemed to reserve just for him. It was slightly uneven, one side of her mouth lifting more than the other making her look decidedly impish.

Sirius never really thought about why he kept trying to determine the exact shade of blue Marlene's eyes were. Or that he took notice of her laugh and did his best to be the cause of it. Or that he had catalogued each of her smiles for no purpose other than he liked seeing them. He didn't worry about it because he didn't see any reason to. He and Marlene had always been easy. He feared if he decided to confront his reasons for his particular interest in all things Marlene that he might disrupt that easiness. Marlene was important to him and they were good how they were, he didn't want to disturb that. That's what he kept telling himself as his eyes traced the curve of her lips and he watched her bestow that special smile on him and wondered, not for the first time, what it would be like to kiss her.

'Well yes usually I do but not during the summer. We have a house, it's about ten minutes from James's and we spend every summer there.' Her brow wrinkled and he fought the urge to smooth it out with his fingers or even worse, his lips. 'Honestly Sirius did you not know this? I thought James would have mentioned it'.

Maybe he had and Sirius just hadn't been paying attention. One of his biggest flaws, if he could bear to admit he had any, was his tendency to get lost in his own head and tune out to the outside world. Still this was an interesting bit of information. Not at all unwelcome information.

He smiled and squeezed Marlene's shoulder before playing with the ends of her blonde hair. 'Not that I recall love but that is certainly good news.' He whispered in her ear. He wasn't sure if he imagined her shiver or not. 'I'm glad you'll be there McKinnon.'

She broke from his hold to face him, her eyes wide and intense and she searched his face. Apparently she saw whatever she was looking for because her face broke out into another one of her secret smiles. 'And I you, Black'.

She made to get up. 'I have a charms exam tomorrow and so do you, I'm going to try and get some more study in, you coming?' she said as she gathered her discarded robe and bookbag.

He gave her his own secret Marlene smile. 'Nah love you go on, I'm going to enjoy the sunshine a bit more. If you see Prongs send him out to me yeah?'

She nodded and chewed on her lip looking little unsure which wasn't a look often seen on Marlene McKinnon's face. He was about to ask what was wrong when her face cleared and she leaned forward a little unsteadily. He felt her lips brush his cheek. 'See you at dinner, Black' she whispered in his ear before getting up and striding away, throwing a wink over her shoulder.

He watched her go and couldn't help smile thinking how interesting the coming summer was going to be.


End file.
